Fine songwriting given some Texas grit, but without the Nashville polish. Americana in its purest form.
Joe Martin describes himself as a “21st century Troubadour,” and has been likened to Lyle Lovett, a comparison which is hard to find on the opening song, Hand Me Down Heart. A driving piece of country rock which is closer to Tom Petty, with an added epic sweep and the bass guitar of Cornelius Webb (Jimmy Webb’s son) pushing the song along. Having been written and recorded in Nashville, you might be expecting a contemporary country-based record. Second tune Checkmate confounds that with a pop/rock song which could as easily have emerged from his native Lancashire as the Midwest. Ben Jarrad adds some silky slide guitar.
The country folk of Strangers To Lovers has a subtle percussion line from Gal Campbell (son of Glen), whose drum work throughout the album is excellent. The title song, which emerged from a writing session with Steve Anderson, who is also a filmmaker and director of the fine documentary 10 Year Town about Nashville’s singer-songwriter scene. Martin describes the process of writing Alone in Valentine: “I took an idea to Steve, telling a story of a lonely woman travelling in a Silverado through Southern Colorado down to Texas. Maybe she was running away from a bad relationship, a heartbreak of some kind. In the end, the story took a twist, and it is revealed that she is widowed, visiting all the places they said they would visit together, but she is visiting them alone.” That twist takes another turn, which the listener can find for themselves.
Martin’s music is a particularly English brand of americana, not unlike Alex Ellis of Our Man In The Field, and Coal Town, could be about the lost mines of Northern England as easily as Ohio. Harmonies from another good British singer, Toria Wooff, make this a quiet highlight of the album. Martin has embraced Nashville without being sucked in by it. Brown Paper Bag is another ballad, but this time Nashville star session pedal steel player Neil Jones positions it firmly on the streets of the more rundown bits of any US city.
There are a couple of more contemporary country tunes in Man You Need and Another Sad Song, the latter notable for more great slide guitar playing. The heartland rock returns on Backseat Driver, with another song that has the anthemic quality of the best Bruce Hornsby. Where some of the words in other songs may drift towards the downbeat, this is completely celebratory, as he declares, “my best adventures. They all start with you”
Having named the album after one Texas town (Valentine, pop. 73), he closes with Paris, Texas, which may or may not relate to the Wim Wenders film. A solo acoustic guitar number that retains a hopeful edge. “I’ll write you from Paris, Texas. And I’ll wait for you there“.
Joe Martin’s second album has been 18 months in the making and has included its fair share of luck, starting with meeting Cornelius Webb in a bar in Nashville. The end result is simply down to drawer songwriting, which has been recorded thoughtfully and given room to find its own personality rather than being smoothed out in the way of so much Nashville product. He is touring throughout 2026, and it will be interesting to hear how these songs are taken to the stage.
